1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer controlled software user interface system within an information management system. Specifically, the present invention relates to user interface systems that create and provide ready access to a secondary display region in addition to the primary display region on a two-dimensional computer data display screen. The secondary display region contains and provides varied access to sources of information.
2. Prior Art
Information management systems, such as those which are used or can be adapted for use in computer systems, are placing increasing demands on the physical resources available for displaying information to the user. There exists a need to compartmentalize and categorize specific segments of information in order to effectuate its retrieval and management. Therefore, information management systems utilize specially developed screen displays that incorporate individual display images as well as display information formats in order to allow the user to effectively gain access to the information system. Therefore, a particular screen display can be thought of as having both display "tools" and display "information." The display tools give the user special ability to organize and manage information while the display information constitutes either the resultant data desired or the application program the user desires to operate.
The current art in the field of computer display information management technology utilizes rectangular sections of screen display area to manage the computer information. Prior art known systems include the Finder.TM. user interface of the Apple Macintosh.TM. computer which is manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. The Finder.TM. information management system (also referred to as "Finder.TM. user interface" or just "Finder.TM.") is based on display principles using "windows" and "icons" to help manage computer information. The main or root window is called the "desktop" area, or more generally the primary display region. The desktop, or primary display region, is always open (displayed on the screen with its contents accessible or at least partially accessible), and takes up substantially the full display screen area when other windows are not open. The desktop is usually visible in the background when other windows are open.
Existing inside any particular window, including the desktop itself, other windows containing separate information or windows may contain information identifiers called "icons." An icon is a particular screen identifier for a particular collection of computer information; typically an icon may represent a "file" which is either a collection of data or a program or program segment. An icon also may represent the closed state of a window. Icons are graphic images displayed on the computer screen and usually correspond to the type of information stored within the file. Icons give the user access to the particular file represented by the graphic image when the icon is visible. The use of icons and windows is well known in the art.
The "file" is the information packet that the user wishes to utilize, create or modify; each particular file has an associated name identifying the file. Therefore, any given file may be located in the information management system by knowing a file name, an icon graphic representation associated with the name, or a window locator name. All information (files) situated within a particular window are identified with that particular window's own identification location within the computer information management system. Therefore, any particular file information can be retrieved knowing its particular identification name and its window name. Accordingly, the resulting screen display utilizing the Finder.TM. management system may be broken down into multiple windows and graphic icons.
Another important element of the prior art information management system is a screen cursor. The cursor, or cursor means, allows direct user control over the management system as described above. The Finder.TM. system is complemented with a "mouse" and a corresponding "pointer" which makes up the cursor means. The user has control over the mouse, which is a mechanical-electrical means that translates two-dimensional mouse movement into a two-dimensional screen position movement represented by an animated pointer or arrowhead. The user contacts and directs the mouse. When the mouse is moved freely on a table top then the pointer on the screen will move animated in a similar and proportional manner. The mouse also contains one or more push buttons which can be used to effectuate control over the cursor pointer by selecting or deselecting specific icons or other display tools. It is said that the cursor pointer is "activated" when the mouse button is depressed and the pointer remains active until the button is released. Pointer activation may also be initiated by sequences of mouse button presses, such as a "double click" or rapid button press twice in sequence. In the current art, certain screen window locations are sensitive and react to the cursor pointer position without activation and are often called "hot spots" or "active." When the cursor is first activated while on an deselected icon that icon becomes "selected;" and if the cursor is activated again (as in double click) then the icon is said to be "activated."
Access to information in a prior art user interface system for a display management system is therefore based on windows, icons and pointer movement of the cursor. Therefore, it is fundamental that before information may be accessed it must be displayed on the screen by an icon, name or similar representational image. This is the case because in a display screen management system the icon may not be accessed unless it is currently displayed on the screen in some form. To access a file, the cursor pointer is placed on the visible icon or visible file name and the pointer is activated. A closed window may be represented by an icon or a window name. A window opens when the pointer of the cursor rests on the visible icon or visible name representing the closed state of the window and the pointer is activated. Within the open window, files may be displayed by icon or by name. An open window, of various geometries, may be rectangular and will exist within the display area of the main viewing screen on the desktop. Multiple windows may be open at one time, typically with the most foreground window corresponding to the most recently opened window and the background windows representing those opened previously. In the organization scheme described, it is appreciated that files are nested within windows and windows can be nested within other windows; the main or root window being the desktop area, or primary display region.
During any normal session using the window based information system, many windows can be open at one time with many displayed icons within. Windows may overlap and partially, or entirely, hide other windows or icons. What results is that the particular information the user wants to obtain may be hidden behind several layers of windows and may be difficult to access; when an icon is hidden by another window it is temporarily not accessible. This is referred to as the "window overlapping" problem. There are several instances where window overlapping problems routinely arise in prior art display management systems. A few of the more troublesome scenarios are described below.
In order to complete a task, often the user must access a single icon within an open window that exists in the background, that is, covered or partially covered by other windows. The desired icon ("target" icon) within the window is no longer visible, and therefore not presently accessible. The overlapping windows or those that lay "on top of" the target window must be closed or moved away ("shuffled") so that the target window and target icon are visible and thus accessible. Window shuffling is time consuming, confusing and often very tedious for the user. If multiple routine icons need to be systematically accessed in sequence then multiple window shuffling procedures may be required. It is extremely desirable to have an advantageous system that could offer ready access to certain often used icons while avoiding window shuffling. The present invention is a novel and useful way to solve the problems associated with screen management, as just described.
Another window overlap problem plaguing prior art systems arises when the user requires two icons to complete a task and each icon is within a different window. The resulting screen display may contain several open windows from past tasks that may clutter the screen display with unwanted information. This information may obscure the desired windows and icons. In many instances the overlapping windows are not unwanted, but hold the first of the desired icons in displayable view. In order to access the second desired icon, the user must close the overlapping window that holds the first icon, then gain access to the second desired icon. Since the previously closed window holds the first desired icon it must be opened again so that the present task can be completed. Again, this process is often time consuming and confusing for the user--especially when the hidden second icon is one that is routinely required. In this case the user is engaged in constant "window shuffling" as described above. The present invention is a novel and advantageous way to solve the problems associated with the screen management, as just described.
Window shuffling problems also occur when files are copied or moved from one window to another. File information is transferred between windows by displacing the icon between the windows. For instance, the prior art Finder.TM. provides several facilitated avenues for information movement using the cursor pointer and the icon based system. However, in order to effectively move the information, both present location and destination location windows must be visible on the display screen. The user points to the source icon, activates the cursor, then "drags" the icon to the desired destination window and deactivates the cursor pointer. The information within the icon will then be moved or copied to the destination window. Of course, this assumes that the source and destination windows are both open and viewable which is rarely the case. When multiple windows are open they typically overlap, thus blocking certain sources and destination windows. The task of moving or copying information as described above becomes difficult and tedious because certain windows must be rearranged in order to allow both source and destination window to be open and viewable. What is needed is an advantageous interface that guarantees certain window access by eliminating the window overlap condition. The present invention is a novel and useful way to solve the problems associated with the screen management as described above.
There have been several prior art methods of display screen management for information management systems to help facilitate the access and display of windows and icons on the screen. However, none of these systems have effectively solved the window shuffling and icon overlapping problem.
A known display screen management system utilizes a root or main window ("desktop") that is much larger in dimension than the displayable screen; this has been done by Tektronix. At any given moment only a fraction of the total desktop region is displayed to the user on the screen with the remainder being blocked out. The current display screen then acts as a "camera lens" that "pans" a subsection screen area of the desktop at time. By moving the mouse such that the cursor moves to the edge of the screen and then continuing to move the mouse the user causes the screen to pan in two dimensions thus shifting different portions of the desktop on (and off of) the displayable screen section. For instance, if the desktop was a two dimensional area 1 foot by 1 foot, and the screen was 0.5 foot by 0.5 foot, then the screen at any time would represent only one quarter of the total desktop. In order to see the remainder of the desktop, the user would have to scroll in two dimensions the current screen position. As new a new desktop section is uncovered, an old desktop section becomes blocked out. This screen management system however fails to provide an adequate solution to the problem of overlapping windows. This prior art system offers little in the way of preventing the window shuffling problems.
The Finder.TM. system prior art, while meeting with considerable success and allowing a substantial amount of access to windows and icons, does not provide the optimum solution for the problem of overlapping windows as described above. The Finder.TM. environment is the system in which the preferred embodiment of the present invention resides.
Other prior art includes a computer program called Multifinder.TM. produced by Apple Computer Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. This program allows the Finder.TM. to be accessible while another application is running. The user can easily switch back and forth between the Finder.TM. environment and the window of the current application. However, Multifinder.TM. does not provide an adequate solution for the window shuffling problem. Multifinder.TM. does not provide an area where icons (files) can be stored and later easily retrieved without reshuffling open windows. Multifinder.TM. merely provides an avenue for accessing the desktop while the user is within another application.
Another known utility is the Apple Menu made by Apple Computer Inc. which is included in the Finer.TM. environment. When the pointer is placed on the Apple logo on the top of the Desktop menu bar and the mouse button is pressed, then the Apple Menu is activated and a list of several program, document, and folder names becomes visible in a pull down menu. (For a detailed description of pull-down menus refer to U.S. Pat. No. Re. 32,632, by Atkinson, assigned to Apple Computer Inc.) Programs in the list can be invoked by mouse activation, however, the Apple Menu is not a standard Finder.TM. window. Accordingly, while advantageous in many aspects, the Apple Menu does not provide any mechanism whereby icons can be simply placed (dragged) inside an easy-access window receptacle using the cursor and treated as icons of any other normal window of the Finder.TM. environment. Further, the Apple pull-down menu automatically closes when an item in its list is activated. So the menu must be reactivated for each activated item. In sum, Apple Menu windows provide only limited access to programs of the computer system. Therefore, the Apple Menu does not offer a viable solution to the window overlapping or shuffling problems.
A program called Lumina, offered by Time Arts, Inc., provides a pop-up display called a tool palette. The palette comes up upon the cursor position reaching a certain edge of the screen, however files or icons could not be placed into nor taken out of the palette. Indeed, the palette was not a window in the most basic sense because no file information could be passed into or out of the Lumina palette. Therefore, Lumina does not offer a viable solution to the window overlapping or shuffling problems.
Disk Top is another prior art program that operates under several environments and applications and provide access to the files stored in the management system. The program creates a window for itself, in which it displays the file names of the programs within the system. This program is generally used as an avenue to quickly access the finder information while the user is within another application. The access allowed to the Finder.TM. is limited and considerably less than that of the Multifinder.TM. software system. The Disk Top system does not solve the problem of window overlap and shuffling. Disk Top does not provide any special easy-access window receptacle for icon transfer via cursor control. Disk Top provides an access path into the finder and its management tools, but does not provide any extended functions to the desktop similar to the present invention.
Therefore, there arises a tremendous need to develop a system that provides an easy access window space that can hold multiple icons (files) and upon opening at any time by the user would immediately provide access to the icons within, regardless of the number of icons placed or to be placed in the primary display region. Additionally, what is needed is such a window or secondary display region, Desk Drawer, that is always accessible when open; it opens on top of other windows currently open or windows subsequently opened outside of the secondary display region. The window, or secondary display region, must be accessed easily by the cursor pointer and must provide all the capabilities of other standard windows within the Finder.TM.. There does not exist such an interface in the prior art.
The present invention provides such an easy-access window. The resultant interface window is called a "Desk Drawer." It is also referred to herein as a secondary display region, especially where the root window, or desktop is referred to as a primary display region. The Desk Drawer acts as an extension of the desktop environment, or primary display region, providing an always accessible window with easy access to the icons placed within.